Major Labels Are Working on a New Vinyl Records Specification

Like constant velocity, this idea was tried in the 78 era. Pathe's etched label disks played from center to outside edge.

 

A technical rundown was already provided, but what it really boiled down to was cost. The technical issues with Laserdisc meant the players would always be expensive (at least $300 and up - way up - which was big money in an era where a decent turntable could be had for around $150), and the discs would likewise be expensive, at least $20 a pop and up. The disc prices eventually dropped as optical disc manufacturing technology became more commonplace and refined, but that would have taken years.

And really a big heavy 12" disc was unnecessary. You could probably have done it with a 7" disc at a slower rotational speed, and it would have been cheaper to manufacture and to make the discs...but then you'd lose the advantages of laserdisc compatibility. It would be a similar technology with some synergies but not many. And the labels had already lost a fortune on quad and might not have been very interested in a new incompatible format. They'd already just seen the Elcaset go down in flames.

When Sony and Philips realized a lightweight little 5" digital optical disc could hold over an hour of high quality audio with none of an analog format's many, many limitations they teamed up and the rest was history. Digital was already being used for mastering albums and it was starting to invade the recording studios, so it was a no-brainer that digital audio made sense in the home as well. The error correction abilities of the CD were completely unparalleled in the analog domain and allowed CDs that were damaged or dirty to remain perfectly playable with no noise or dropouts, an impossibility with any analog optical format of the time, vinyl, cassette or analog videotape. I think people forget just how amazing that feature was - nobody had ever seen anything like it.

Even though it was digital it did share some technological symmetries with the existing laserdisc video format. But the players were tiny, quiet, low-power and lightweight devices that - apart from their laser assemblies and brand new D/A converters - were really simple devices and quickly became easy to manufacture. They had far fewer moving parts than a cassette deck and their mechanical components were under much less strain - and operated with much less potential for wear or damage - than a vinyl turntable. Although digital, the discs themselves could be produced much cheaper than laserdiscs, and were easier to package, ship and display.

 

After digital audio tracks were added to LaserDisc in 1984, Philips tried to relaunch it as "CD Video" in 1987, emphasizing its ability to carry audio-only tracks as well as a few minutes of video -- just enough for a music video -- on a CD-sized 5-inch disc. It was not a success.

 

I think a factor in their failure is in the title of the video: the confusion between CD Video and Video CD. Video CD was a format unrelated to laserdisc that could hold 74 minutes of VHS-quality video on one CD (requiring most movies released in the format to be put on two or more CDs, another reason for the failure of the format).

I had a CD-i player that could, with the addition of a digital video cartridge (which improved the capabilities of the player in addition to allowing you play digital video), play Video CDs. The results were not that impressive, especially compared to laserdisc.

 

Video CD (VCD) was introduced in 1993, while CD Video was pretty much dead by 1991.

VCD was a major success in Asia, and new movies were officially released on VCD until about a year ago. Bootlegs and smaller-budget titles continue to be put on VCDs even today.

 

I saw both around the same time in my area, but I never purchased a CD Video although I did buy a few music video LDs (an 8-inch LD) such as one by The J. Geils Band. I wasn't aware that Video CD was a success in Asia. It is probably similar to the situation with Minidisc, which wasn't a success in the U. S. but was a success in Asia too.

 

And if its cooled off in Best Buy, its because they don't stock it in stores at all anymore. And I didn't know until a month ago that they sold vinyl on their website. These issues are BB issues, not vinyl issues.

 

IF the RIAA published a new standard and IF the vinyl manufacturing industry adopted the new standard and IF the playback hardware manufacturers also adopted it and IF you could go out and buy an LP labelled as "New Quality Standard" and IF you could buy a new TT compatible with the "New Quality Standard" (no matter how effective that standard was or was not) there would arise a whole new market where there wasn't one before, which would be beneficial to the manufacturing, distribution and retail trades. It would also raise the vinyl LP from being "legacy" to being "hi-tech" which would attract a whole new generation of fans (like my 13 year old grandson).

 

Has anyone ever shown that vinyl is more expensive now than it used to be? Accounting for inflation.

 

I went to the U. S. Inflation Calculator website and entered $10 for the price of an LP in 1983 (the approximate price of an LP in the year that CD was introduced). Ran the calculation to the present, and $10 then would be $25.32 now.

I did a quick check of new releases on Amazon and what I found is that many LPs are less than that, but there are also many that are more than that. I suspect that one of the factors in the difference is the weight of the LP (regular weight pressing [possibly using recycled vinyl] vs. a 180 gram pressing using virgin vinyl).

 

There have also been more hifi labels, expensive delux reissues and limited pressing releases these past decades that never existed before. Im guessing thats what gets people on the prices.

 

Shame it wasn't, they carry some excellent sounding mixes, b-sides, edits pre modern mastering, found later on Deluxe Sets etc. Some of these go for crazy money. I try to pick em up if found at affordable prices
Strange, I don't remember ever seeing these in retail in 88+. I would of grabbed them.

 

I love the CD video format, for all the reasons you mention. I wish it held out for a few more years as it seems there could have been all sorts of cool releases throughout the 90’s that we never got. I have a small handful.


The sad news is that an overwhelming majority of them were pressed by PDO during their problem years, as is I believe the one you’ve shown above. Now we can’t even really collect the few cool ones that did actually exist. Good luck getting any of those to play in 2018

 

Level 42 seem to be darlings of CD Video, I went to see the first demo of these at a Hi-Fi show in a hotel near Heathrow airport, and the demo CDV was 'It's Over' by Level 42!

 

No issues on those UK Poly manufactures ROM, I have a few and none have exhibited any type of degradation so far (Thank God) Of course I ripped them for back up sake.

 

I agree that the additional options have resulted in more expensive LPs. During the LP's first major life, with few exceptions, there was basically one off-the-rack option for LPs and 45s. As an example, when I used to purchase LPs I never considered the thickness of an LP. What I got was what it was, and I never noticed multiple versions of the same LP. Then, the only options* were to purchase the LP or to purchase the 45 (if I just wanted just an individual song).

* I know cassettes were also an option but their sound quality caused me to give them a pass in favor of the LP/45.

 

sounds like they are colluding on a way to make everyone re-buy their entire audio catalog...again

maybe I am just pessimistic

 

I don't think that will happen since most people are likely happy with the version they already have. I could see people continuing to purchase new (to them) music on vinyl, which I'm sure will continue to be available as long as enough people are willing to purchase it. However, I don't think you will ever see the mass rebuying that occurred when CD was released.

 

So far every single PDO pressed CDV I have so far is in varying states of bad... it seems to start at the outer edge of the disc. The video track will start going fuzzy, if not totally unwatchable. The CD tracks are closer to the center, so those are next, but sometimes they’re still in fine enough shape that EAC’ll know what to do with them. In other cases even the audio tracks are totally fried. :/ at least you seem to be having better luck with it!

 

Superb album, but I think he meant RRPs, not bargain basement finds

 

I'm looking forward to the MQA LPs our vinyl overlords have waiting for us.

 

MQA 8-tracks.